This Is Folk

Calling this three-CD box set This Is Folk is a somewhat bold statement, an implied claim that what is contained herein is the very definition of folk music. And to some extent that's true -- or would be if the word "British" had been added between the words "Is" and "Folk." With the exception of Peggy Seeger, the New York-born half-sister of the legendary Pete Seeger, This Is Folk contains no American folk music -- and even Peggy Seeger was married to a famous British folkie, Ewan MacColl. There is also no African, South American, Japanese, Scandinavian or Canadian folk, no Australian or French -- you get the picture. It's virtually all from the Isles, and because those Isles have a long and rich folk tradition that's not a bad thing at all. But folks looking for folk of a more varied geographical origin will be out of luck if they don't check the track list closely before picking this up. That said, it's a very solid, rewarding collection. Virtually every important British folk artist of the past four decades, give or take, is represented here, including such top-shelf names as Pentangle, Martin Carthy (as well as his wife Norma Waterson and their daughter Eliza Carthy), MacColl, the Watersons group, Richard & Linda Thompson ("Just the Motion" comes from their brilliant Shoot Out the Lights album), June Tabor, the Albion Band, Steeleye Span, Shirley Collins, Bert Jansch, the Incredible String Band, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn. Fairport Convention turns up twice, and Fairport mainstays Richard Thompson and Dave Swarbrick are given solo spots as well. Donovan, often overlooked in surveys of British folk due to his quick conversion to rock, opens the set with "Turquoise" and shows up a second time with "The Ballad of Geraldine," both songs drawn from his early Fairytale album. Classic British folk songs abound, among them "Streets of London," sung by the great Ralph McTell, and "Angi," the Davy Graham piece later picked up and covered by Simon & Garfunkel. The vast majority of the tracks were licensed from just a few sources -- Topic Records, the Sanctuary Group and Rykodisc -- but the compilers made good use of the catalogs at their disposal. ~ Jeff Tamarkin|